Why We Eat What We Eat on Easter

This Sunday families across the country will gather together for the annual Easter feast. Children will search for colored eggs containing chocolate and jelly beans hidden by a rabbit in a basket filled with fake green grass, adults will nibble on hot cross buns, and all will come together for a meal of ham or lamb. On any other Sunday, this might seem odd. But on Easter all of these things are entirely appropriate. But why?

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Why We Eat Lamb

Courtesy of Gotham Bar and Grill

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Though it may not achieve the same popularity as milk chocolate eggs, lamb is the most traditional of Easter eats. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, its significance is based both in Christianity and Paganism, when Easter did not exist but a celebration of the spring equinox did. In Christian theology, lamb symbolizes Jesus' self sacrifice as the "Lamb of God." But the concept of a sacrificial lamb dates back to Pagan times when lamb symbolized spring, as that was when lambs were ready for slaughter.

Since it was readily available than lamb in America, ham became the Easter meal of choice early on in American Easter history. It didn't hurt that back in pre-refrigeration days, meat was cured in the fall and ready to eat in the spring, making it the perfect post-Lenten course. Ham was also adopted as the meat mascot by early Christians, according to FoodTimeline.org.

These days it wouldn't be Easter without eggs. Whether they're plastic and hidden in a bush, foil-covered and made of chocolate, or cooked in a traditional style, eggs are the ultimate symbol of secular Easter (apart from that bunny with a basket). Eggs join lamb as a symbol of spring and rebirth. But eggs also have a Christian connection. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, in early Christianity, eggs were one of the forbidden items to eat during Lent, so they were one of the first things consumed in celebration of the end of Lent. Eggs also symbolized the rebirth of mankind through Jesus' self-sacrifice.

Food Timeline quotes An A-Z of Food & Drink as saying that, "The practice of eating special small cakes at the time of the Spring festival seems to date back at least to the ancient Greeks." Hot cross buns are a particular Easter specialty, notably because they have a cross on top in frosting, symbolizing, of course, Christianity and the cross on which Jesus died. The BBC writes that sharing one of these buns with a friend on Good Friday will cement the friendship. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, bread is a common and ancient object of sacrifice. The Egyptians used to offer up small cakes marked with the symbols of gods. The Greeks and Romans had similar practices. The Saxons ate buns that honored the goddess of light, Eostre. Sound familiar? It is the origin of the word Easter.

Probably the strangest item on the Easter menu is the chocolate bunny. When did the bunny hop on the Easter scene in the form of chocolate? First, an explanation of the bunny: According to Gourmet, in pre-Christian times, people worshiped the the ancient goddess of fertility, Eostre. Rabbits were also depicted as a symbol of spring and fertility. It wasn't until the 19th century that the bunny appeared on the Easter table. Germans were the first to create a confection out of this adorable creature, making pastries and hiding them in nests for children to find. When the Germans came to the United States, they brought this tradition. Whitman's Chocolates first produced chocolate bunnies in 1842, and though it took a few decades, other companies like Lindt, Bortz, Cadbury, and Dove also began cranking out the chocolate bunny. According to the National Confectioners Association, 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced for the holiday each year, with 76 percent of all people eating the ears on the bunny first. The only question left is: Why do we eat Peeps?